What won the race: Inheriting the lead after race-long pacesetter Jadon Frame pulled up lame on lap 13, Cory Hedgecock of Loudon, Tenn., raced away to a $5,000 victory in Saturday’s 40-lap Southern Thunder Super Dirt Series feature at Smoky Mountain Speedway. Hedgecock scored his first win on the first-year regional tour by 4.991 seconds over veteran Randy Weaver.

Quotable: “We were fair in qualifying, but just not good enough, just wasn’t stuck (to the track). We threw everything at it and did everything that we know how to do,” Hedgecock said. “When everything kinda got situated early in them laps and I finally could get a lane I could start running, I just moved up out of their grooves and tore right up through there, did really good.”

Key notes: Hedgecock clawed forward from the ninth starting spot to second by lap 10, positioning himself to assume command after Frame’s bid ended with mechanical trouble on lap 13. Frame stopped in turn four to bring out the last caution flag of the race. … Hedgecock controlled the remainder of the distance to score his seventh overall triumph of 2025 and first since a Schaeffer’s Southern Nationals win on July 18 at Swainsboro (Ga.) Raceway. … Weaver, who started sixth driving a Karl Tipton-owned Sniper Chassis, reached second on lap 33 and stayed there to the finish. He earned a $500 bonus for being the highest-finishing driver using a steel-block engine. … Hedgecock became the 10th different winner in the Southern Thunder circuit’s first 12 events. ... The 40-lapper lasted 16 minutes with 13 starters completing the distance.

On the move: Dillard Hatchett of Cornersville, Tenn., started 20th and finished sixth.

Winner's sponsors: Hedgecock’s BMF Race Car is powered by an Eagle Racing Engine and carries sponsorship from Best Plumber, K&P Used Cars, Base Fuels, Integra Racing Shocks, Keyser Manufacturing, SFP Performance, Currin Construction, Circle H Services, CH Enterprises, Pro-Fabrication, Viper Motorsports, Arizona Sportswear, CDE Electric, Majestic Mobile Detail, Hoosier Tire, Winters Performance, Quickcar Racing Products, Brucebilt Performance and Schaeffer's Racing Oil.

Points chase: After Smoky Mountain: 1. Dalton Cook (528); 2. Beckham Malone (444); 3. Trey Mills (424); 4. Dillard Hatchett (348); 5. Zack Mitchell (340).

Current weather: Broken Clouds, 88°F

Car count: 30

Fast qualifier: Michael Leach

Time: 16.333 seconds

Polesitter: Jadon Frame

Consolation race winners: Beckham Malone, Landon Gentry

Provisional starters: Fletcher Wulff, Dakota Smith

Next series race: August 22, Tri-County Racetrack (Brasstown, NC) $5,000